How EA Sports gets away with underage gambling

Max Brunke

maxbrunke77@gmail.com

 

I've played video games for 15 years. First it was the Gamecube, or the Wii, and now it's the Xbox One. The generations above mine reasonably have trouble understanding what all the hype is with playing video games, but I guess if I could give any insight, it's a way to escape and "hang out" with your friends without physically being together. Past the casual play, video games have become more and more competitive throughout the 2010's, progressing to a level of professional play nowadays. MLG, or Major League Gaming, has rose extremely in popularity in the last decade. Games like Call of Duty, CS:GO (Counter-Strike: Global Offensive), and even sports based games like FIFA or Madden are common in professional gaming; they even have massive tournaments with huge amounts of prize money given away to top performers. While it all sounds like a well-oiled machine, there are some glaring issues within gaming in general.

As a six year straight FIFA player, and someone who strives each year to play at a competitive level, I have a lot of first hand experience with the game and the tendencies of the company behind the game (EA Sports). There's been a lot of debate surrounding the idea of "Loot Boxes" or "Packs", as that's what EA calls them in-game. You can open packs in Ultimate Team, which is a gamemode where you collect player cards to improve your team, and these packs contain players and consumables for your club. You can get a pack in a couple of different ways, but the most common way is through "FIFA Points". FIFA Points are a digital currency that you purchase with real money to be able to buy packs. The better the pack, the better the players; along with the higher the price. The central issue with this is that the game can be played by anyone, including children under the age of 18. Anyone who has a credit card linked to their Xbox/Playstation account can easily purchase hundreds of dollars worth of FIFA Points in minutes. The simplicity of the system also brings about thieves who scam children into getting their parents credit card in order to buy FIFA Points. This child experienced hackers stealing his mom's credit card in order to buy over $300 worth of FIFA Points. At least, that's what he said. The kid became an internet sensation among soccer fans when the article released, many laughing at the fact that he may have lied to his mother and purchased those points himself. Nonetheless, it goes to show that these FIFA Points are marketed to younger kids who play the game, which is arguably child gambling.

Photo Credit: Max Brunke

And argue is what some countries are doing and have done around the world with this pressing issue. The Netherlands recently announced that EA will be fined over $500,000 each week until FIFA Points are removed from the game within their country. The Netherlands may have been the hardest on EA yet, but they aren't the first to make a move like this. Belgium was the first initial country to ban FIFA Points, as stated in the article, and continue to uphold that ban to this day. There are also countries such as New Zealand who charge much higher prices for FIFA Points, discouraging the public to buy them. The hope is to start movements against marketing to children in such a manner, maybe even speaking out to children about gambling addictions.